


Everybody Deserves Someone Who Cares

by Telaryn



Category: Leverage
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Awkwardness, Chicken Soup, Developing Friendships, Gen, POV First Person, Protective Eliot Spencer, Sick Character, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 12:46:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9440999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: Eliot's perspective on the somewhat unique experience of watching Parker's back - in the field and at the dinner table.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hollow_echos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollow_echos/gifts).



> Written from your prompt: _Eliot spots Parker when she goes rappelling down the side of a building or diving off a roof. I’d love a fic exploring his perspective on that responsibility/what goes through his head during that act. Bonus points for protective!Eliot._
> 
> Hope you enjoy it - thanks for joining us one more time!

The first thing Eliot and Parker really argue about is her unwillingness to work with a spotter on the more difficult jobs Nate sends her on. “I’ve been doing this since I was fourteen,” she snarls at him. “I don’t need a babysitter!”

What she doesn’t understand until much, much later, is that Eliot grew up with two younger brothers and two younger sisters. Parker vents a good deal of anger and frustration at him (Eliot isn’t foolish enough to believe that it’s _all_ the anger and frustration she has in her.), but through it all he stands his ground unmoved. Nate is gradually letting him take responsibility for the safety of the others, and in Parker’s case he sees the same kind of death wish he used to carry. She won’t actively court Death, but she will flirt with it, and if it takes her she will go without a struggle.

It isn’t the first time Eliot finds himself willing to fight that particular relationship.

He suspects it won’t be the last.

When she finally yields, he is pleasantly surprised to find that her training is more complete than he feared. Parker knows all the typical calls and responses for their new relationship. She understands what his function really is, and how to keep things predictable between them – or as predictable as they can be in the field, where circumstances can change without warning.

Physical capitulation is only one part of the equation though. “You’re going to make me sloppy,” she pouts as he checks her rig; making sure that the complicated tangle of buckles, carabiners and carbon fiber lines is up to the job.

He doesn’t dignify the assertion with an answer – just gives her a single raised eyebrow. She seems to understand his meaning though, and immediately gets her head back in the game. The job goes smoothly, as do the half-dozen that follow it, where he stays with her until she is safely inside whatever building they need to penetrate.

The next one Nate comes up with is a completely different story; anything that can go wrong does, and Eliot spends a week of near-sleepless nights reviewing the drop in his mind and piecing together every moment where he might have been less than his best.

The next time he travels to Nate’s apartment there is an envelope in front of his usual chair. Inside is a thank you card from Parker for saving her life, and it is easily one of the most terrifying things he has ever held in his hands.

Not that he says anything of the sort out loud.

Although he’s pretty sure Nate knows.

(Nate always knows.)

(Bastard.)  
***********************  
As they progress from an impossibility to a family, Parker continues to be Eliot’s priority. Hardison has a near-terminal case of calf-eyes for the girl, but it’s the difference between ‘nice’ and ‘kind’. He won’t question her eating and sleeping habits, make sure that she’s sufficiently studied the available intel before they go out into the field. In the beginning he can barely string three coherent words together when they talk. 

It’s cute, in an annoying kind of way, but it means the day to day stuff falls to Eliot. He makes a mental note of all the places Parker likes to nap – closets mostly – and makes sure that each is properly stocked with (at minimum) a pillow and blanket. He goes to work on her eating habits too, luring her away from the comfort of cereal and into a more traditional diet. 

She never gets comfortable with his more extreme creations in the kitchen, but then again neither does Hardison. Dinner gradually evolves into a balancing act between Parker and Hardison’s under-developed palettes, and Nate and Sophie’s willingness to at least try whatever he puts in front of them.

Parker’s habit of getting up from the table multiple times during a meal out of little more than sheer boredom, on the other hand, quickly erupts into a no-holds-barred contest of wills. Nate finally steps in when Eliot threatens to tie the thief to her chair and she responds by threatening to ‘relocate’ everything he owns.

It goes at least somewhat smoother from there, especially when they discover Sophie has a “mom-look” in her arsenal capable of dropping grown men (and socially stunted thieves) into the nearest chair at twenty paces.  
**************************************************  
The first time Parker gets sick, Eliot has to go find her. Nate understands why he’s driven to do it; illness equals a vulnerability somebody like Parker would have learned to protect herself against at all cost. Hardison wants to come too, but mindful of how fast some germs can spread Eliot insists on being the only one to travel to Safe House #3 – at least at first.

He finds her in bed, covered in sweat and shivering, her fever a hundred and three at least, by his admittedly unscientific reckoning. His first step is to wrap her and her ratty stuffed toy in blankets and relocate her to the couch while he changes the sheets. Then, once the bed is fit to sleep in, he moves her back, covers her properly, and has her take a dose of the ibuprofen he’s brought.

“I can take care of myself you know,” she protests after swallowing the pills. There’s no heat to the words though – more form than actual function.

But what the hell – he can indulge her a bit when she’s clearly miserable. “I know,” he concedes, gently pushing her sweat-soaked hair back off her face and neck.

It surprises her. “Why do you care so much?” Eliot can see her struggle to wrap her mind around the concept that another human being might give a damn what happens to her for her own sake, and it keeps him from brushing aside the question, from taking refuge in his usual gruff retorts.

“I grew up looking after my younger brothers and sisters,” he tells her finally. “There were six of us in the beginning. My parents worked to make sure we had food and clothes, but more often than not it was up to me to make sure the others ate the food and wore the clothes.” He shrugged. “It’s pretty obvious nobody ever stuck around long enough to do the same for you. I’m happy to fill in the gap.”

He can tell from the deepening furrow in her brow that she still isn’t getting it. _No frame of reference,_ he realizes sadly. “Everybody deserves to have somebody look after them once in a while,” he says, trying again. “Even you, Parker.”

Before she can say anything else or pester him with any more questions, he gets to his feet and goes to where the bag of his deli purchases has been sitting. “I’m not even going to bother asking if you have anything to eat,” he tells her, starting to pull paper and plastic containers from the bag. She has a microwave – it’s enough.

“I’m not eating anything weird,” Parker announces. When Eliot glances at her, her eyes are huge, her expression one of stubborn determination.

Eliot holds up the last container. “Chicken noodle soup. Best in the city outside of mine. I’ve got your back.”

It’s either enough, or she’s taken this as far as she can. “Thank you,” she sighs, shifting under the blankets until she finds a comfortable position.

Smiling genuinely this time Eliot nods at her. “You’re welcome, Parker. No worries.”


End file.
